


The First One

by Perpetual Motion (perpetfic)



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: First Fight, M/M, mentions of abuse, rita and rafael are bffs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 13:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12654672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetfic/pseuds/Perpetual%20Motion
Summary: For a prompt: "their first fight as a couple."





	The First One

**Author's Note:**

> Self-betaed. Lemme know if I typoed.

"RAFAEL! WAIT!"

"You can't make me stay here," Rafael said, his hand on the doorknob and his voice quieter than it had been for ten minutes. 

There was a pause from Sonny that felt like it went on for ages. "What? No. Just--" 

"I can't be here right now," Rafael said. He couldn't turn to look at Sonny. If he looked, he'd say something worse than he'd already said. He knew himself when he got like this.

"Take your coat," Sonny said. "And your scarf. It's forty degrees."

Rafael snatched both from the coat tree and left, slamming the door behind him. Goddamn him, he thought, why was Sonny capable of yelling his head off _and_ making sure Rafael didn't freeze when he stormed out? It wasn't right. He should stay mad and swear after Rafael. Accuse him of fleeing. Accuse him of refusing to face his feelings. He shouldn't have been able to turn on a dime like that. 

Rafael couldn't do that. Sonny was probably upstairs right now talking to Bella or Rollins, and they were telling him to just go home and let things die out. It was only right. Rafael was an asshole. He didn't deserve to have Sonny around. Sonny would be better off with someone who didn't get fucked up about stupid shit--

"Stop," Rafael muttered. He looked around, realizing he was at the end of the block. Across the street was a bodega. Rafael walked towards and stood in the light of the windows as he pulled out his phone.

**Rafael:** Sonny and I had a fight. 

**Rita:** Nonsense fight or actual fight?

**Rafael:** Actual fight. He throws his suits on the floor. 

Rafael wasn't surprised when Rita called him rather than text a reply. "Hi," he said.

"Where are you?" 

"In front of the bodega down the block from my building."

"Okay. Good. Are you wearing a coat?"

"Yes," Rafael tried to sound put out, but it came out shaky. "He stopped me when I was storming out to make sure I did."

Rita made a sympathetic sound. "Tell me what happened."

"He throws his suits on the floor."

"You know that's not what I mean."

Rafael gripped the back of his neck to ground himself. "He's been staying over the last few weeks, and when he comes in, he gets out of his suit and puts on pajamas. He just leaves his suits on the floor. I've been trying to ignore it, but today…"

"I heard D'Angelo kicked your ass in chambers today."

"Pretty sure I have rug burn from him throwing me around."

"And you have that clothes thing." Rita said it slowly. 

"I don't--fuck." Rafael sighed and felt the last of the fight in his blood fade away. "Fuck."

"Yeah."

"Fuck." Rafael looked back down the block at his building. He could see the lights on in the windows. "Goddamnit."

"Go home," Rita said. "Explain it to him."

"Yeah. Okay." Rafael didn't move for a few seconds. He could hear Rita breathing on the other end of the phone. "This hasn't happened in years."

"I know. Tell him that, too. He'll understand. He works with traumatized people all the time, Rafael. He'll get it."

"What if it's too much, though? He gets trauma shit all day at work, and I have tell him I have a thing about clothes because my dad was a fucking asshole."

"If it's too much for him, you tell me, and I'll destroy him."

Rafael didn't quite laugh, but he smiled. "Thanks."

"Take care of yourself. If I don't hear back from you in an hour, I'm going to assume things are okay."

"Okay."

"Bye." 

"Bye." Rafael cut the call and stared at his windows for another few seconds before he started walking slowly back to the building. 

He didn't know what to expect when he walked into the apartment, but it wasn't Sonny calmly doing something on his laptop with an open beer next to him. 

"Hey," Sonny said, standing up. "I was just ordering a hamper."

Rafael paused in taking off his coat. "A hamper?"

"Yeah. For my suits, so I'm not throwing them all over your floor."

"Sonny…" Rafael didn't have words. They'd screamed some terrible things at each other, and here was Sonny, casually trying to fix the issue. 

"It's okay," Sonny said quietly a he stepped close to Rafael, not enough to crowd, but enough to reach out. "We were gonna have a fight about something eventually. We should talk it out, but if you need a little more--"

"I need to explain something to you." Rafael gestured to the couch, and Sonny sat down on one end. Rafael took the other. He leaned forward and clasped his hands together. "You know my dad was abusive."

"You've said." Sonny's voice was neutral, and Rafael was glad for it. It put him at ease.

"He always yelled at _mami_ and me about wasting money. It was bullshit, of course, because she was the one holding down one to three jobs at a time, and my father's temper got him fired constantly. But he had to feel like the big man, so he would accuse us of wasting money."

Sonny shifted on the couch, moving closer. He held out a hand. Rafael took it, grateful for the comfort. "I'm listening," Sonny said. 

"If we spent money, he'd yell at us about not getting things on sale or how we didn't need something. If we didn't spend money, he'd accuse us of being hard on things and wasting money that way. If I left my clothes on the floor, he'd yell and hit me. If I put them in the hamper, he'd go through them and scream at me about something being clean enough to wear again and how it would cost us more to wash things more often."

Sonny squeezed his hand, and Rafael finally looked up. Sonny's face was all sympathy, and Rafael found it didn't make him itch. "That is incredibly shitty," Sonny said. "Me throwing my suits around kind of brought it back, huh?"

Rafael nodded. "It did. But, I didn't realize that's what was happening. It's been a long time since I've had someone stay here. You tossing your clothes around at your own place doesn't bother me as much. Just, it bothers me here, it turns out."

"Do you think the hamper will work? I didn't finish ordering it, so I can cancel it."

Rafael thought about it for a moment, wanting to be sure how he felt. "I think the hamper is a good idea. Not seeing things on the floor will help."

"Okay, I'll finish ordering it in a minute, then." Sonny tugged on Rafael's hand and pulled Rafael in until they were holding each other. "Thanks for explaining."

"I"m sorry I called you a slob and said you didn't take care of your things and that you were an asshole for not hanging up your suits when they're dirty."

"I'm sorry I called you the dry cleaner from hell and told you to go fuck yourself," Sonny replied. 

Rafael turned his head and kissed Sonny's temple. "Accepted."

"Same." Sonny nosed behind Rafael's ear and tightened his hold. "I'm gonna get a hamper for my place, too."

"You don't have to."

"I know, but I want to. You said it doesn't bother you as much, but that means it still bothers you. I want you in my space as much I want to be in yours. A hamper's not a big investment to make that easier for both of us."

Rafael pulled away so he could look at Sonny's face. It took him a moment to form words. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Sonny kissed him softly on the mouth and pressed their foreheads together. "We're gonna fight sometimes," he said, "but we'll get through it."

Rafael believed him. "Yeah," he said, "we will," and he believed himself.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to write the actual fight, but it just wasn't happening. The how and why and the fixing of things just struck me as the point to start at. Also, I like writing people working honestly to make their relationship better.


End file.
